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Monday, March 23, 2009

Have Myself a Home Life...Buy Some Books

Good morning, bloggish lovelies! For the first time since I've been living with Chuck--roughly a month and a week--I'm actually up at my normal time (7:30ish). This suggests a miracle: that I'm actually getting back on a schedule!!! I can easily get a couple of hours work in before the Chuck joins the land of the living and my students will be very happy that I've graded some papers.

Or I can blog and then work!

First off, a call for good thoughts, prayers, chants, whatever you do. A very good friend of mine from graduate school (Super T.) and a very good friend of mine since undergrad (Super C.) are engaged and having a baby. In short, the baby came very early (born at 26 weeks) due to some complications, and these wonderful, smart, gorgeous, fantastic, insert fitting adjectives here, people need your prayers. I questioned God and my faith for a very long time, but He's shown me some things lately and answered some pretty serious requests (brought Chuck) so God and I are on the mend. Please pray for my friends and their new little girl as they struggle through this very uphill battle.

On the homefront all is well. Chuck and I have the occasional battles that every couple has, but there's something that sets him apart from every other man I've ever dated: he listens. He's very diplomatic and soooo not into fighting, and he genuinely cares about what I think and how I feel about things. It makes life a lot easier. Oh, and he likes me! He really likes me!

I always tell people that "we really like each other." One day he asked why I always say that (since obviously we're pretty crazily in love), and I had to elucidate a theory I've had for a long time. I've known couples (married and not) that have been together a long time, and for me the test of a relationship is whether or not the involved parties still like each other after paying their dues and putting in their time together. My grandparents were married for 50+ years, and while they loved each other, I never got the feeling that they liked being together. My friend Rachel's aunt and uncle, on the other hand, have been married for 20+ years and still really like each other. They work together, they live together, they vacation together, and they enjoy each other's company. I've always wanted to be a part of a couple that likes each other, and now I am. People tell us we're cute all the time--that we seem really in love. Given, it's only been a month and a half, so we've got a long way to go to 20+ years, but we like each other now and I love that we like each other so much.

There's also reading news in the house! Chuck's son--who still remains nameless and we'll call him CS--was having a hard time reading the book he had out from the school library, and Chuck asked if I could recommend a graphic novel. I gave the boy American Born Chinese, and the rest was history. Since then he's been dipping into all kinds of books--some that stick and some that don't (much like myself). Yesterday he finished the Artemis Fowl graphic novel, and he's halfway through a Spy Kids graphic novel. He's also been reading all of Shel Silverstein's poetry, and he read some of Twilight. If you have any graphic novel recommendations for us, we'd be pleased to hear them! He has a couple of the Bone books, but so far he isn't terribly interested in those (though I am, and so is Chuck).

Chuck has apparently caught the book bug, too. He already had a decent collection when I moved in, but we've been cruising Half-Price lately, and he's buying as much as I do. We've gone to a couple of parties with my old grad school buddies lately, and that's resulted in a flood of new books in the house. In fact, yesterday I came in from buying breakfast groceries (French toast fixins) and found him sitting in bed, shirtless, with his cute little man-glasses on, reading The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Well, you could've knocked me over with a feather, and if I hadn't been so hungry I probably would've attacked the poor man right there. Maybe that's not appropriate blog fodder, but it's absolutely true. Bibliophile girls and boys know what I'm sayin'.

Our latest purchases include:

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (the premise got him on this one)The Collected Poetry of T.S. Eliot (after I raved about "The Waste Land" and told him some of my college stories about it)Journey to the Center of the Earth, by Jules VerneThe Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson BurnettOliver Twist, by Charles DickensThe Magical Life of Long Tack Sam, by Ann Marie Fleming (graphic novel and he loves anything Asian)The Best American Comics, 2006, edited by Harvey Pekar

Chuck is a graphic designer, so much like CS and myself, he's captivated by a good illustration. Chuck and I both read Craig Thompson's Good-bye, Chunky Rice last week. I thought it was cute, but overall we both liked the illustrations better than the actual story. Though, I have to say, I might feel differently if I re-read The Little Prince since it's supposedly a response to that book. We'll see.

So that's what's shakin' in AndiLand. Life is good. Books are good. Family is good.

I'll be back with some reviews soon. I need to review Chunky Rice, some children's books, and I hope to be finished with Julie and Julia soon. I couldn't sleep last night, so I knocked off a chunk of it. I love her snark and sweetness, and now I want to cook some French food! Besides French toast, that is.

29 comments:

I totally understand when you say "he likes me" I've been in a couple of relationships that I've loved the other person deeply, but as time went on, our enjoyment of being with each other as much just wasn't there and my parents are prime examples of loving each other but not fans of each other's company.

I can't wait to read you review of Goodbye Chunky Rice! I have wanted to read that forever, but haven't gotten my hands on a copy of it yet.

It's funny b/c the hubby and I have been together for 10 years and we still LOVE being together and we truly LIKE one another. It's a great feeling. I know for a long time when people would ask, "what do you like/love about one another?", we both would say, we just get each other. I mean, we do. We know what the other is thinking, we like the same things and we like to be together. I'm so happy you're in the same boat!!

Did you know that Marvel has several classics in graphic novel format? Like Last of the Mohicans, The Three Musketeers, Moby Dick and more. They are running Pride and Prejudice now. Maybe CS would like some of those? I want P&P as soon as it's in book format! LOL

happy to read you so happy! :-) you're absolutely right that liking one another is what gets you through. :-)

as for graphic...i just picked up the first volume of the tove jansson moomin comic strip. the illustrations are fantastic and the characters amazing. i'll definitely be going for volumes two and three in the near future.

I like your "like" theory. It sounds pretty er, sound to me! Glad you are both in like and in love!

I will definitely be praying for your friends and their child.

Have to admit that I loved the art of Chunky Rice but hated the story. It was just too damn depressing to me. I guess I wasn't expecting it to be so and so it kind of threw me. I don't hate it, per se, but I would read it again.

That's marvelous that the two of you found one another! Sounds like you're a good influence on him. And he sounds like a great guy.

Reading Frederick Douglass' autobiography was a life-changing thing for me-- hope it is for him too.

I have been trying to keep a promise I made to someone a long time ago to read more fiction-- I love history and politics and always have a stack of non-fiction I'm reading-- and checked out Cormac McCarthy's "No Country For Old Men" after I found out that there's a major plot element that the movie omitted.

As far as liking each other in a relationship, it is all important. When the "the crazy love" cools a bit, there has to be more and I can read in your post that you and Chuck have this...wonderful! I wish you all the happiness :)

I was wondering what you were up to, haven't seen you around the blogosphere lately. But wow! It sounds like you've been having a wonderful time! Chuck sounds awesome and when you say 'Oh, and he likes me!' I know exactly what you mean :)

Good wishes and prayers for your friends and their baby girl, life is a hard battle sometimes and faith can work wonders.

I'm really happy that things are going so well with your man! I have been with my hubby for about five years or so now and I completely agree with what you said about relationships. When I observe people who have been together for a long time and really seem to enjoy being together, I know that is what I want. So far that is true of the two of us. We enjoy each other's company, and even after five years we'd rather spend an evening hanging out together over anything else.

Awesome reading choices! I don't have any good graphic novel recs, but I look forward to hearing more of what you guys read.